Hey friends! I’ve been very few and far between on these pregnancy updates. I figured I’d better get at least one more in before baby gets here.
I turned 37 weeks on Sunday. That means, I’m in the I’m so ready to have this baby club. But, I probably have a full 3 weeks left. The earliest I’ve ever gone is 4 days early. The latest I’ve ever gone is 4 days late. So, since I’m due on March 16th, that would mean I will naturally go into labor anywhere from March 12th through March 20th (assuming that I stick with my current trends!).
What I’ve been up to…..
I failed my 1 hour glucose test for the gestational diabetes, so I had to go in for the 3 hour test. I ended up failing that test by 4 measly points. Can you believe 4 points? Yeah….so, they have me watching my carb and sugar intake and making sure I eat enough protein. I need to do that anyway, so it’s not a huge deal, unless of course, I’m craving CHOCOLATE! Honestly, I’m wondering if I had retested if I would’ve been fine. I’m not real worried about it, but I do try to be sure to combine my foods with protein when I’m having something more sugary or starchy. It’s helping me be aware of just how much carb type foods I was eating again. It sure is easy to jump off of that weight loss band wagon, isn’t it?
Because of the assumed GD, I have to go in for a weekly nonstress test. Every Monday morning, I do my little duck walk waddle up to the hospital where we spend 20 minutes doing the nonstress test. The baby always passes within the first 5 minutes, but they have to have 20 minutes of tape, so I sit there, holding that heartbeat monitor tightly onto my swollen baby bell (because for some reason, they can never get it tight enough for me to sit there with it hands free).
What I’m Concerned About…..
As you know from my previous updates, my last baby was my 1st C-section. I had to search high and low for a doctor who would allow me to attempt a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). I can’t say that I’ve always been convinced that he was REALLY going to let me have my VBAC and not be induced. (I’m opposed to being induced because it makes the labor that much harder for me AND it increases the chance of having to have a C-section by quite a bit). The nurses kept insinuating that I surely wouldn’t make it to 40 weeks and that had me skeptical. I finally remembered to discuss it with my doctor and he said, no, we want you to go as long as possible because with gestational diabetes, the babies lungs don’t develop quite as quickly. Now, that’s not saying that once I’m 40 weeks he won’t be threatening to induce me for concern over a too large baby, but…we’ll take that on as it comes.
My biggest concern was at today’s appointment, my blood pressure was a little high. That’s how I ended up with an induction that ended in a C-section. Of course we later found out that baby had a short cord, so chances are that we wouldn’t have been able to have him naturally anyway, as he just wasn’t coming down, but I’ll never know that for sure. I hadn’t had much time to drink water before going in this morning and I’m wondering if I was a little dehydrated, something I’ve learned CAN raise your blood pressure. My goal for next weeks is to drink at least 2 big glasses of water before making it to the doctor. Hopefully I can survive the car ride over without having to stop to pee. 🙂
How I’m Feeling
Impatient.
Tired.
Sore.
A little miserable.
I know why God lets us have 9 months to get used to having the babies! By the 9th month you’re all, “Bring on the PAIN!” and you accept it all willingly. Not so much when you’re feeling really good in the middle months. I’m ready to have some good contractions and maybe I won’t feel like I’m pretending to be pregnant.
Speaking of pretending to be pregnant. Do you think anyone thinks I’m pretending? 🙂
Yeah, probably not. But it sure feels like I’m pretending sometimes, until I realize WHY I’m this out of breath. 🙂 I’m the one that everyone thinks is about to pop at 25 weeks. And now I’m the one who everyone asks, “are you sure there’s not two in there?”. Yep, quite sure. Ha!
What I Have Left to Do
Um… everything. I guess, since I was just “pretending to be pregnant”, I didn’t really think I needed to do anything to get ready. I’m still not sure I want to pull that stuff out. I’m trying to declutter…and pulling stuff out will just mean more junk to find a home for. So…. my list looks like this:
- Wash Carseat cover and wipe down Carseat.
- Pull out Baby Girl Clothes and wash up.
- Buy or borrow a baby swing
- Pack the Hospital bag
- Clean, Clean, Clean (you know the nesting kind of cleaning where nothing will ever be good enough until it’s perfect…ha, not likely, but we’ll keep trying anyway.)
The Good News & One Last Funny
Way back when I had my first ultrasound, the doctor said the only thing holding me back from a VBAC is that I had placenta previa (where the placenta blocks the birth canal). The doctor assured me that in most cases it would move up and out of the way. I had it checked via Ultrasound today and there is no placenta in the way! Yay! So we’re still on track for that VBAC.
We’ve known since I was about 25 weeks along that we are having a baby girl. This will be girl #5 in our family. Well, today, while checking the placement of the placenta the doctor says, “is this supposed to be a boy?”. “Um….no? Is it?” He says, “hmm, let me just double-check”. So then, he has trouble finding anything and finally is pretty sure he sees girl parts. Hmmmm, what does this mean? I guess we could get a last minute bundle of blue, but if that’s the case we’ll be equally as happy. We’ve not thought of one boy name though, so that will be the biggest challenge. Names are ALWAYS a challenge to us though, so that’s nothing new. But, he’s probably right, it’s probably really a girl, he just thought he’d throw a little confusion out there. 🙂 I just happen to still have boy baby clothes AND girl baby clothes, so we’ll be fine.
Wow, that was long winded wasn’t it? 🙂 If you lasted through that whole update, thanks for listening! If you’re currently pregnant and want to give me your update, I’d love to hear how you’re doing. Leave me a comment or come over to the Facebook page and share. I love hearing from you!
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